Water authority approves desalination deal

The San Diego County Water Authority's board of directors
approved Thursday a
crucial agreement
with Carlsbad that would allow construction
of a desalination plant in that city.

The Carlsbad City Council is scheduled to consider the agreement
at its Sept. 13 meeting.

Under the agreement, Carlsbad will cancel an existing water
purchase agreement with
Poseidon Resources Corp
.
Poseidon is attempting to build the desalination plant next to the
Encina Power Station on the coast. That will allow the water
authority to negotiate its own water purchase agreement with
Poseidon.

In exchange, Carlsbad will get the right, but not the
obligation, to purchase up to 10,000 acre-feet of water from the
plant annually, nearly 20 percent of capacity. An acre-foot is
about 326,000 gallons, a year's supply for an average single-home
family of four.

Carlsbad also gets a guarantee that it will receive property tax
payments from the project for 10 years, even if the water authority
buys the plant from Poseidon. The guarantee doesn't apply if
Poseidon defaults on the project.